The Future Rescues The Past

AN Why did Severus slice his arm off? And how did the terrible future occur? We find out…..

Chpt 4 His Story

Severus looked to her and gently kissed her lips and turned his heel.

HGSSHGSSHGSS

He arrived at the remote island of Foula and quickly placed a trap and Apparated away again

The locations were a blur to Hermione as it was done so quickly as the use of his magic so close to her drained her quickly. She realized that it wasn't the future that was killing her but being around magic was. She was dead here in this timeline so how could she have magic? Magic was trying to correct the order of its nature.

Severus left her at a tree to set up the next ambush and rushed back seeing Hermione holding a low branch, struggling to remain standing.

"Severus, I can only survive one more Apparation. We need to go back now." She weakly whispered.

He picked her up feeling her clothes soaked in sweat and nodded to her and Apparated them away.

They arrived at Dartford Tunnel and saw the hundreds of cars in the tunnel. "Which one is yours?"

She pointed to the red Ford Escort. "See the one not rusted? That one is mine." She whispered and fell unconscious in his arms.

Severus ran, weaving around the rusted hulks and pushed Hermione into the back seat of her car and slammed the door shut and jumped away and waited. If there is a God out there then let him be right or he was responsible for her death again. The car disappeared as soon as Hermione was in it.

Did she travel back? Or did she die and the car disappeared as there was no reason to be there if she traveled to the Veil? He waited and minutes ticked by.

Hermione realized that she was in the back seat of her car and felt immediately better. Her magical signature was normal and everything seemed right again. So her car was the link to her "normal" time. Looking out the window she saw nothing but blackness. Was Severus out there or was she in some kind of time abyss, not being anywhere.

She knew that Severus would not leave and decided to take a chance and opened her door. Still nothing to see. She thought upon that fact for a moment and then swung her legs out until her feet were resting on the pavement and her surroundings came back into focus.

Severus watched in amazement and thanked what Gods that were looking over her. His witch was alive.

Hermione left her car and looked to her fiancée. "I knew that you would not leave me and I feel normal again." She walked up to him a placed her hand on his chest. "Touching you does not drain me."

He listened to her theory and agreed with her. "I thought the same and thank Merlin we are both right."

Hermione looked to her car. "I am never going to get back. Look at my car Severus. It's smashed up and I can't use magic here."

Severus looked to the smashed up Escort. "I can Hermione. Walk to the exit of the tunnel and I will fix it."

She walked to the exit and watched Severus point his wand and watched the car repair itself and watched it levitate while he walked beside it.

Severus carefully placed the repaired vehicle on top of a rusted one as there was no other place to put it. "I must clear the other tunnel for you travel back to London of the past. Wait here a moment."

Hermione watched him climb over the cars in difficulty as he only had one arm. Why in Merlin had he severed it? Soon her car was neatly placed in the now clear lane. She heard Severus call to her and climbed over and entered the cleared tunnel and joined him.

He opened the car of door. "Hermione it is time for you to go. My fellow Deatheaters will be here soon."

"Not until I find out what happened here. How can I fix something when I don't know what caused it? And why did you cut off your arm?"

Severus sighed. "The arm is easier to explain and I will start with that. The reason why Voldemort has a tight hold on our world is because he is attuned to the Darkness and it tells him when something is out of place. You have good or the Light in your psyche and Darkness flees from those like you. The Dark Lord remembered my involvement with you and could use my Mark to locate us. There is no way to remove it so I had to remove it the only way it can be. The Basilisk poison in the sword ensured it could not be used to find us as a part of my essence was in the Mark."

"Are you in much pain?"

He ignored her question. "Go sit in your car while I caste additional alarms and protective enchantments. You deserve to know of how the future came to be because my actions. It is not without reason that I am the Dark Lord's right hand man."

HGSSHGSSHGSS

Hermione waited ten minutes and got out of her car and saw Severus sitting down, back resting on the wall of the tunnel with a few bottles of captured light that he created, placing the tunnel into a bluish light.

He looked to her gravely and warned. "Promise me Hermione not to judge harshly when you return to the past and remember that they have not done anything."

She became concerned at his words. What the hell happened? "I promise Severus."

Severus began his tale. "Yesterday marked twenty five years of Voldemort's reign and I remember that fateful day well as Mr. Weasley betrayed us all. Oh Hermione when we gathered in the secluded room at Hogwarts to marry with our trusted friends was the best thing that had happened to me in my miserable double-sided life. Remus Lupin was my witness and Harry Potter was yours and we did marry that night Hermione."

Hermione watched Severus close his eyes for a moment. "I knew that Weasley held an infatuation but I never knew the depth of his jealousy and obsession for you. He followed Potter and entered unnoticed and watched our ceremony. I was only in his mind for a moment before he left without a word."

He continued. "I told Potter what I saw and he did not believe me. But you did Hermione because you remembered Luna's dream. If I had known that it would not have made a difference I would have never agreed."

Severus pulled himself up. "Retrieve any food or drink you have in your car while I check the wards." Leaving Hermione and walked to the opening of the tunnel. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and looked to the sunset for a moment before checking the wards.

Hermione went to her car gathered up a packet of Cadbury White Chocolate Buttons and a few bottles of water and went back to wait for Severus. She thought of the tale so far and realized that he blamed himself for everything that happened.

Severus sat down beside her and drank from the bottle of water that she gave him and continued his tale, turning down the offer of chocolate. "I'm not sure how Weasley beat us to the Dark Lord but he was present when I delivered you. Voldemort laughed and told me well done for bringing two thirds of the Golden Trio in and commanded me to stay at a room in his Manor and watched Bellatrix and Carrow lead you away. It was then I knew that I failed the trust you placed in me."

Hermione placed her hand in his and lightly squeezed. "What happened next?" she whispered.

Severus looked into her warm brown eyes. "A domino effect Hermione. Weasley was tortured and spilled everything about the Order and soon everyone was dead except for you, Potter, Weasley and me. He decreed that every wizard and witch in the realm attend your execution. I watched you pulled to the stakes that he set out and tied all of you to. You had been beaten and I'm sure you were raped many times but you spat into the Dark Lord's face and Harry did the same." He left out the obvious torture that she endured. "Defiance to the end and it angered him that you or Harry did not beg for your life and you both suffered for hours for your insolence before he finally killed the both of you. Because of that he had to quell down small uprisings. And quell them he did in the most horrible ways that you think of. Even today there are pikes along Diagon Alley that still bear the traitors skulls of long ago."

"And what of the Muggle world Severus? Why is England abandoned?"

Severus looked to her. "The Dark Lord is clever. He called me one year after his takeover and demanded that I brew an ancient potion that increases the background radioactivity that is always present. Nothing toxic but it makes the muggle instruments go off the scale."

Hermione thought for a moment and then exclaimed. "But Severus that would take years to brew and it would have to be expressed by air." She thought for a moment. "He imperio'd the muggle Air Force?" Disbelief in her voice.

"Logical as always Hermione." He chuckled for a moment remembering the Dark Lord's greatest feat and the beginning of the eradication of muggles. "It took 2 years to brew with fifty of us working around the clock. During that time Deatheaters infiltrated anti-nuclear weapons groups and provided photographic evidence and document s proving they were located in a few American Air Force bases. After that a three year phased plan began to rid Britain of muggles and he imperio'd an American air wing from one of the bases in question and started in Scotland to force the muggles to the coast. Distrust formed between the American and English governments as pictures of jets spraying a chemical appeared and the air wing could not explain how their planes were used. It was complete chaos at the end as the final evacuation began and then news leaked out that the entire Royal Family had disappeared making most think that they knew what was going on and got the hells out of there. The Dark Lord murdered them all to create more confusion and accusations."

He paused for a moment and took a sip of water. "Countries from all over the world sent ships to rescue the population. Only ten percent reached America as most sank or disappeared without a trace courtesy of the Dark Lord."

"My parents!" Hermione sobbed out. It was too much to comprehend all at once. She brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. She cried for her parents, friends and the end of the world that she knew.

Severus wrapped his remaining arm around her and held her, whispering his love for her and waited for her to gather herself. He didn't blame her reaction to his story for it was the stuff of the impossible.

Hermione composed herself after a few minutes and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her student robes and looked to her lover and really looked to him as he watched her in silence. He had not aged gracefully and the sharp lines of his face revealed it. "You shouldn't blame yourself for this Severus."

"I should have never asked you to marry me Hermione." He spoke in a harsh voice. "I should have let things continue on, or I should have stood by you to protect you and die with you. I could not do the right thing with Lily, Albus, or even you. Everything I did for the greater Good and looked how things ended up."

Severus looked to her and stood up and looked down to her. "I do not deserve your love Hermione. I failed you and I continued on in the Dark Lord's service even when I knew that forming a rebellion was impossible. No one believed me when I did try, thinking I was ferreting out traitors because everyone knows that I am the Dark Lord's most trusted wizard. After the evacuation of Britain I despaired because I lived and the Dark Lord arose victorious. It was not supposed to end this way." He snarled out.

He walked a few steps and turned back. "You are looking at a pathetic, broken man Hermione. I am a Potions Master and can brew a selection of potions that could end my life and I could not even do it. But I did try other ways and challenged any wizard or witch to a duel to the death for the smallest infraction as I was allowed it because of my status. Even those pathetic fools could not do it, so swayed in fear of my reputation."

Hermione shot up from where she was sitting and rushed to her wizard and kissed him, pushing the feeling of her love for him as he responded in kind and broke it. "How I wish to make love to you as you have been without love for so many years."

He placed his hand upon hers that was resting on his cheek and looked to her tenderly. "I do not deserve your love and time has passed. I was proven unworthy of your love but I have a chance to absolve myself."

She remembered his request to the castle of Hogwarts and his word of farewell to it. "You are planning to die."

"The moment that I sliced my arm off and killed my Mark sealed my fate. Don't be sad Hermione as it is what I desire with all that I am." Severus pulled out a phial and forced it into her hand. "I must die in your time to prevent this future. Everything that has happened hinged on me and Mr. Weasley. The potion is untraceable and mimics a heart attack. Promise me Hermione!" He demanded.

Hermione looked to Severus and placed the phial in her student robes. "I promise Severus."

There was a yellow flash and Severus looked to the entrance of the tunnel. "Two things Hermione to remember when you go back to where you belong. The Heirloom of Ravenclaw is the missing Diadem of Helena Ravenclaw and is located at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement." He pulled out a phial and extracted his memories. "Second show them that to bolster your impossible story."

A loud cackle was heard in the tunnel and Severus pushed Hermione to her car and began to walk towards the entrance. "Severus Snape time to come out and play. The Dark Lord has been disappointed in your service to date. Did you really think that we could not find you and the Mudblood?" Bellatrix sang out.

"Dear Bella so good to have you here. I am honored that the Dark Lord has sent his best to gather me." Severus chuckled and turned back and hissed. "Go Hermione and remember that I do love you and will wait for you in the Veil."

Bella laughed at the words. "How touching Severus but you will die."

Hermione saw the green light shoot out and knew that Severus was dead. She jumped into her car, turned the ignition and gunned the engine, slamming the car into drive and sped forward into the darkness.

Hermione kept her wheel straight and flew into the darkness and suddenly found her quickly approaching a bumper and tapped the brake as the darkness suddenly revealed her in heavy traffic moving towards London in the early morning.

She pulled off at the first exit and parked into the first Petrol station that she found and turned off her car, getting out of it and noticed that she was still wearing the student robes that Severus gave her. She leaned against her car and cried out hysterically as she watched the cars and people pass by her. She was back in her time.

Two young muggle constables approached her. "Miss you were driving erratically and followed you to check up on you. Are you well?" One asked.

Hermione wiped her tears with her sleeve. "I'm sorry officer. I was just on my way to University when I found out that my fiancée died in a car crash. I pulled off as soon as I was able to."

The young men looked to her in sympathy and one spoke out. "Let's go inside and get a cuppa and consider it courtesy of the constabulary Miss…"

"Hermione Granger." She told them and smiled to the young men and allowed the constables to lead her into the petrol station. She was back and the action of the young constables proved that there was still good in the world and bolstered what she would have to do later.

AN There are thoughts of the US having nuclear weapons in England. I Googled RAF Lakenheath nuclear weapons and found groups. You can do that to if you wish to verify the information. It fit my story and I have no idea if it is true or not.